NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2010

Kaiser Kristine, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY 2010. The fellowship supports a research and training plan in a host laboratory for the Fellow who also presents a plan to broaden participation in biology. The title of the research and training plan for this fellowship to Kristine Kaiser is "Effects of man-made noise on stress physiology, immunology and reproductive biology in frogs." The host institution for this research is University of California-Riverside, and the sponsoring scientists are Drs. Wendy Saltzman and Emma Wilson. Noise is a natural component of an ecosystem, but for a species which tries to attract mates acoustically, it can be problematic. Most species have adaptations to allow for communication to occur despite naturally-occurring noise. However, habitat alteration has become pervasive; such change often introduces human-made, or anthropogenic, noise such as traffic noise into the environment. Anthropogenic noise differs from natural noise in many structural features, and how it affects acoustically communicating animals is not well known; yet an animal's ability to cope with this problem can affect its likelihood of survival in a rapidly changing landscape. Although recent work has shown behavioral compensation to noise in frogs, the effects of noise on fitness and physiology are not well studied. The three major goals of the project are to determine if anthropogenic noise (1) increases the stress response in frogs; (2) decreases frog immunocompetence; and (3) decreases frog fitness or impacts reproductive physiology. Training objectives of this project include integrative biological research in the fields of endocrinology, immunology, and reproductive physiology. This research provides valuable insight into amphibian physiology and a possible mechanism of amphibian population dynamics. In addition, the postdoctoral Fellow will serve as a mentor to a diverse group of undergraduate researchers in all aspects of the project.